To the strains of protesters blowing on duck calls outside the Prado Ballroom in Balboa Park last night, U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonin Scalia made the case for his judicial philosophy to lawyers and law students inside.

If the roughly three dozen protesters bothered the justice, he didn’t show it. His 25-minute address contained what have become the hallmarks of Scalia rhetoric in his 18 years on the high court: agile intellect, cutting wit and confidence that his position is correct and the opposition hopelessly addled.

Scalia was speaking at the invitation of the Thomas Jefferson School of Law, as part of its annual Jefferson Lecture. He is also scheduled to judge a moot court competition at the University of San Diego School of Law on Monday.

The protesters blew duck calls as a sarcastic reminder of a controversy surrounding Scalia’s recent duck hunt with Vice President Dick Cheney.

The two went on the trip last month, three weeks after the Supreme Court agreed to hear a White House appeal in a case involving private meetings of Cheney’s energy task force.